


One Too Many

by theprettynerdie



Series: Thedas University [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Sexual Content, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 21:42:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3870763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprettynerdie/pseuds/theprettynerdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen joins his friends for an end-of-midterms celebration, and Siobhan Trevelyan has one or two drinks too many.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Too Many

Cullen taps his foot impatiently, muttering under his breath. 

It’s nearly ten, and already well over an hour and a half into the party he is supposed to be going to. _If Varric ever gets here_ , Cullen thinks bitterly. He’s checking his watch every twenty seconds or so, scanning the road for approaching cars. When Varric finally pulls up there’s a half-apologetic smile on his face. 

“Sorry, Curly,” he says as Cullen hops into the passenger seat. “Deadlines, you know. Lost track of time.”

“Just answer my texts next time you’re going to be late,” Cullen says, feeling slightly more at ease now that he’s finally on his way. “So do we know who’s party we’re going to?”

“Dorian does. I think the guy’s a junior? Don’t know his name, though.”

“And you’re okay just leaving your car there?” The party is being held off campus, about ten minutes away from the university proper; not a difficult walk, but but an inadvisable one considering the neighborhood. 

“Bianca will be fine,” Varric says. “Dorian said there’s a parking garage nearby, so she’ll be safe. I’ll catch a taxi home and pick her up in the morning.”

Since Cullen hadn't been able to change his schedule at the gym, he’d had to work a late shift. Varric, upon hearing this earlier that morning, offered to pick him up after work, since he had to spend some time editing a piece for the school paper before he could celebrate the end of midterms. Cullen was grateful; he didn't really want to have to pay for a taxi for just himself. 

Even though it’s late at night, the campus is still buzzing with activity. There are more than a dozen parties going on right now, and students are littered through the street, all going to or coming from one of them. Cullen thinks several of the girls he sees must be freezing in the chilly October air, considering the lengths of their skin-tight dresses and sleeveless shirts. 

Varric pulls into a parking garage about two miles off campus and leads the way to their destination. Most of the off-campus houses that students rent out are dilapidated structures; at the last party Cullen went to, he’d remained standing the entire time to avoid sitting in the veritable filth covering the house from top to bottom. At this point, after two weeks of exams and a long day at work, Cullen couldn’t care less about the state of the house, as long as he can have a few beers and relax with friends. He’s eager to see his girlfriend in particular; studying had taken up so much of their time during midterms that they’d hardly had any time to spend together lately.

Dorian’s friend’s house is not as decrepit as Cullen assumed it would be; it is larger than most of the others on the block, and the grass is mostly green instead of mostly brown like the other surrounding lawns. There are several people standing on the sidewalk out front smoking cigarettes, including Blackwall, whose face brightens as they approach.

“What did we miss?” Varric asks.

“They only started beer pong twenty minutes ago,” Blackwall says. “And last I saw, nobody’s thrown up yet.”

“Just give it time,” Varric says, chuckling. “Especially if Sera spikes the booze again.”

Blackwall chucks his cigarette butt into the street. “Alright, let’s go.”

He leads Cullen and Varric into the house, which, like its exterior, is much nicer than any of the off-campus houses Cullen’s been to before. It isn’t a typical college party: whoever Dorian’s friend is, he planned a coordinated event, complete with DJ, dance floor, and bartender. There must be at least fifty people on the ground floor, which makes it difficult to move around. Everyone is pressed shoulder to shoulder near the entryway, and Cullen is finding it hard to breathe as he navigates his way through the crowd and keeps his eyes peeled for his friends. 

He spots The Bull first, of course, not just because he’s the largest person in the room but because of his booming roar of a laugh. Moving through the throng of people, he clears a path for Varric and Blackwall and calls out to his friend over the music, waving.

“There they are!” Bull bellows, causing several nearby heads to turn in their direction. Dorian, Vivienne, and Cassandra smile as the three approach and eagerly exchange hugs.

“Where are the others?” Cullen asks.

“Krem’s playing beer pong,” Bull says. “Leliana went to find a bathroom, and I think Josephine and Siobhan went to get drinks. Sera? God only knows.”

“So should we be concerned about the drinks then?” Varric asks, only half-joking.

“You think she’d pull the same prank twice? Not her style.”

Leliana returns from the bathroom a few minutes later, and Krem arrives ten minutes after that. When ten _more_ minutes pass with no sign of Josephine or Siobhan, Cullen excuses himself to get a drink and search the party for the missing girls. He heads over to the bar first, which is packed with eager students trying to reach the booze. The lights are dimmed, making it difficult to make out the many faces in the crowd, but he keeps looking diligently as he waits on line to pick up beers for himself, Varric, and Blackwall. He’s almost at the front when a pair of hands come from behind and obscure his vision.

A soft kiss is pressed to the side of his ear. “Guess who?” trills a wonderfully familiar voice.

Cullen turns to Siobhan, smiling, until he sees what she’s wearing. The high-waisted leggings look like leather and cling to every curve of her lower body, while her crop top looks more like a bra than an adequate shirt, since it doesn't even extend to the bottom of her ribs and has side cut-outs. His eyes move to her face, which, to his mind, is every bit as enticing as her body; she’s put effort into her eyeliner, which is heavier than he’s ever seen on her before, and curls into elegantly-pointed wings; her glitter-blue eyeshadow shimmers along with her pink lip gloss. He has to quite literally shake his head to clear it, and Siobhan giggles.

“You like?” she asks, pecking him on the cheek. “Thought the end of midterms called for something a bit - daring.”

“I - like it,” Cullen says earnestly, kissing her back, this time on the lips. Some of the gloss from her lips transfers to his, and when he licks them to wipe it away he tastes bubblegum. He almost tells her that she tastes delicious, but thinks better of it, especially since Josephine is standing right next to her. “Hi, Josie.”

“Hi,” she replies. “Getting a drink?”

“Yeah. Where did yours go? Bull said you were over here getting some.”

“We already finished them,” Josephine says. “We’re going back for more right now.”

“How many have you had already?” Cullen isn’t really concerned, since neither girl is slurring her words or seems unbalanced, but they’ve been here much longer than he has and he knows Siobhan is very much a drinking girl.

“Not much, just two jello shots,” Siobhan says. “I was waiting for you before moving on to any hard stuff.”

Once they reach the front of the line, she leans forward and orders three more jello shots for the group. “And can I get a Long Island Iced Tea and that hard lemonade? Cullen, what do you want?”

“Just three beers.”

As the bartender gets to work making their drinks, the three of them pick up their jello shots and, on three, down them in one. The ladies begin rifling through their clutch purses, and Cullen realizes with a jolt that they have to pay; until now, he’d only been to parties with beer and a mixed drink or two to choose from at an open bar. Cullen digs in his pocket to find his wallet, knowing he probably only has his debit card and a couple singles, but Siobhan scolds him.

“Put that away,” she says. “I’m covering tonight.”

“But - ”

“You covered for me last time, remember?”

Siobhan hadn’t told him about the liquor charge ahead of time; she won’t put him in the position of having to ask to borrow money from her, won’t force him to embarrass himself if she can help it.

Even so, Cullen puts his wallet away with evident reluctance; he perceives even this as taking advantage of her. But the outcome will be the same whether Cullen embarrasses himself or not, Siobhan reasons, so why not avoid that unpleasantness altogether?

“Looks like you found them,” Dorian says to Cullen once the three of them return to the group with their drinks. Cullen hands Varric and Blackwall their beers and directs them to give their payment to Siobhan when they pull money from their pockets. 

Despite the fact that every one of them has spent the past two weeks preparing for and then taking their midterms, the exams seem to be the only topic of conversation among the group. Cassandra and Leliana are discussing how they each approached a mini-essay prompt on one of their Philosophy tests, while the political science students (Siobhan, Josephine, and Vivienne) complain about the sheer volume of essays their field of study seems to require from them. 

“I don’t know why they don’t let us type our in-class essays,” Siobhan complains as she sips on her Long Island Iced Tea. “Three questions per test, on three separate tests, cramp the hell out of my hand.”

Cullen doesn’t have much to say himself; he’s the only one in the group who’s majoring in social work, so the academic discussions are a bit less inclusive for him. Not that he minds; he’s content just being there, beer in one hand and his girlfriend’s hand in the other. 

The group relocates to the living room after a time, where the DJ and dance floor have been set up. After they settle on a few of the assorted poufs scattered around the perimeter of the room Siobhan slurps down the last bit of her drink, then pulls Cullen to his feet so they can dance. Cullen’s method of dancing includes shifting from side to side awkwardly and trying not to trip over his own feet. Siobhan knows he’s self-conscious about it, so she doesn’t push him; she just presses against him, swaying to the beat of the music with her hands on his waist to guide him. She grins when she feels him growing hard underneath his jeans. 

“Mmmm, that’s nice,” she presses the words to his ear so he can hear her over the din, “ _You’re_ nice.”

She isn’t truly drunk, not yet, just buzzed. For someone as small as she is, she holds her liquor impressively well, as long as she doesn’t drink too much in too short a period of time. That’s when she becomes sloppy, unable to stand upright or control the volume of her voice. But Cullen’s never seen her throw up or black out from drinking before, even when she’s had four or five strong cocktails, so he isn’t too worried about her, not as long as someone’s there to make sure nobody takes advantage of her, and she doesn’t do it too often. 

Neither of them care much for dancing for extended periods of time; Siobhan just needs to get some stress out of her system with two or three songs, and Cullen, given the choice, would skip it altogether. That’s why, barely ten minutes later, the two of them are back at the bar ordering drink refills. 

“Tequila shots!” Siobhan says happily, “Let’s get two of those too!”

When swallows the liquid in one and slams her shot glass onto the bar, she lets out a whoop. “Your turn,” she says, pressing the second glass into Cullen’s hand. He follows her lead, downing his tequila and spluttering slightly. Once Siobhan’s second Long Island Iced Tea has been mixed and Cullen grabs his beer, they return to the corner of the room where their friends are. 

Cullen sits down on an empty pouf, and Siobhan settles into his lap. By now, Sera has joined them, and she immediately pulls Siobhan into the discussion she’s currently having with Dorian.

As Cullen begins talking with Cassandra, his arms wrapped around his girlfriend’s waist, Siobhan leans back against him. It feels good, ridiculously good, in his arms, comfortable and safe. She finishes her drink over the course of her conversation with Sera, but it is replaced with a new one soon enough when Bull and Krem go to the bar to pick up the next round of drinks for everyone. 

Siobhan is up and down over the next hour or so; when she drinks, she tends to use the bathroom something like every twenty minutes or so. When she comes back from her third trip, she straddles Cullen’s lap instead of sitting with her back to his chest and kisses at the side of his neck lightly. There’s nothing inherently sexual about it though; it’s merely affection. It is returned easily with a brush of lips against her forehead, next to her ears, and along her jawline.

Cullen goes through two more beers before his own bladder starts to bother him. By now Siobhan’s already been to the bathroom three times; when she disentangles herself from Cullen’s embrace for the fourth time, he decides to go with her.

It’s a good thing too, because she hasn’t moved more than six paces before she loses her balance and falls forward onto the floor.

“Welp, I think I’ve hit my limit!” she laughs as Cullen helps her to her feet.

“Lean on me if you need to,” he says. “Especially in those shoes.”

Siobhan happily takes him up on his offer, relishing the excuse to have him close. Not that she needs any sort of excuse anyway; her boyfriend loves holding her, looks for every opportunity to do so. That’s why they do so well together, she thinks.

Only now that they aren’t stationary do the two of them realize just how drunk she is. It’s as if she skipped from buzzed directly to hammered all at once. The room is spinning pleasantly, and Siobhan giggles as Cullen guides her to the bathroom. He intends to stand outside the door and give her some privacy before attending to himself, but Siobhan takes hold of his wrist and drags him inside along with her. Sighing, he locks the door and turns just as Siobhan grabs him by the shoulders and kisses him messily.

“Go to the bathroom,” Cullen says firmly, pulling away from her and guiding her over to the toilet. She plops down onto it with a groan. “Then I’ll take you home, okay?”

Siobhan’s face lights up. “Okay.”

Once they’ve both urinated and washed up, Cullen calls for a taxi. While they wait for their ride, they go back to the living room to say goodbye to their friends, and Cullen fetches a glass of water for Siobhan.

“You’re so good to me,” she murmurs as he walks her outside and ferries her into their waiting cab. He can feel a headache forming at the base of his skull, but ignores it for the time being; once they get to her place, he can take some aspirin and relax. Siobhan snuggles close to him, eyes closed and mouth curled into a smile of contentment. Her light little sigh of pleasure when he wraps his arm around her sends butterflies racing through his stomach, and he kisses the top of her head. 

“Love you,” she whispers, kissing his cheek. Her mouth drifts to the underside of his jaw, then his neck as Cullen strokes her arm idly. 

Such sweetness evaporates the moment they reach Siobhan’s room. The moment the door is closed, she pounces on him, her mouth hot on his and her hands tearing at his shirt. He grunts as she presses him down on the bed and climbs to straddle him, mouth sucking harshly at his neck. 

She ruts against his groin, and Cullen nearly whimpers.

“Not - not right now,” he manages to say, but Siobhan is already pulling her shirt off. 

“Why not?” she slurs, pressing a breast into his hand. “I _want_ you.”

“You’re too drunk, Siobhan,” Cullen says, taking her by the wrist to keep her from dragging his shirt off too. 

“Don’t care.”

“ _I_ do,” Cullen tells her. “I want you with me completely when we - do it.”

“I _am_ with you, silly.” 

“You know what I mean.”

Finally, with a sigh, Siobhan rolls off of him, frowning. “ _Fine._ You’re so _honorable._ ”

A pause. “Can we at least make out?”

Cullen chuckles. “Yeah, okay. Just - let’s get you settled first.”

He slides off the bed, kisses her navel (which earns him a squeal of delight), and dips a finger into the waistband of her leggings. She makes no effort to help him, just enjoys the process of being stripped down to her underwear by her very attentive boyfriend. He retrieves a sleep shirt for her, then climbs back onto the bed next to her.

“Want to watch a movie?” he asks, stroking the side of her face with his thumb. She nods, fetches the remote from the bedside table, and settles back in the crook of his arm. They channel surf, finally settling on a period drama that’s showing on one of the premium movie channels. Cullen rubs her back as they lay together, side by side, kissing enthusiastically. Her fingers are pressed against the base of his skull, massaging slowly, and he exhales with relief into her open mouth as she eases the tension of his approaching headache. 

Several times, Siobhan moans and arches against him, and the motion sends a spark of arousal through him. “Let me,” she says at one point, bringing her fingers to the waistband of his jeans. But Cullen knows where that will head, so he reluctantly takes her hand in his and brings it to his lips instead.

“Tomorrow,” he manages to say through the effort of quelling his desire for her to do just that. She whines in disappointment but acquiesces, softening her approach at once. Her kisses are now tender, gentle, and she hums happily when Cullen slides his hand underneath her shirt and starts to tickle her back.

“You’re staying the night, aren’t you?” she asks in between the kisses she’s planting along the column of his throat.

“If you’ll have me.”

“You have a permanent overnight bag underneath my bed, of _course_ I want you to stay.”

“Mmm. Good.”

“Sorry about … you know. Tonight.”

“For what? The drinking? Don’t worry about it. If it was an issue I’d have told you.”

He makes sure she finishes a full bottle of water before slipping out of his jeans and under the covers next to her. He continues to tickle her back as she drifts off, feeling that, all in all, taking care of his girlfriend isn’t a bad way to end the night.


End file.
